Twisted Feelings
by Iremat
Summary: Temari has a specific goal in mind, but in order to gain that goal she has to make a deal with a monster. R&R. TemariSasuke. One Shot.


To Temari, it was a game. All of it, from start to the very end, when she – unconscious and beaten half to death was clinging to life - still believed went according to plan. Manipulative and cold, Temari calculated everything aside from the small fact of nearly getting killed. Even if her life was lost, she has brought Sand such an ace, it almost made it worth leaving both of her brothers alone.

Sasuke knew what she thought and deep inside he enjoyed the look in her eyes when he took her, roughly, pinning her hands at the sides of her head. She was playing with fire, selling herself to a monster – but he never forced himself on her. Whatever he took was given to him, for it was she who made all the first moves. He enjoyed, in his sadistic moods, knowing the inner battle she must have been going through. It made physical closeness that much tenser, that much more explosive, that much more mind numbing. With her underneath him he forgot everything that lead to this, loosing himself in her vocal demands and her acknowledgements of how much control he had over her body.

And when it was over, he stared her in the eyes, taking in every single emotion and she responded with stretching her body, wet and glistening with sweat making a smart ass comment that this is probably the closest he ever gotten to feeling love for someone besides himself. A dark chuckle would be his answer to her prodding. She had no idea that he was waiting to break her. In fact, she had no idea what sadistic pleasure that'd bring him.

But what he didn't know, and in the end, that was the reason for his demise, that Temari was incredibly resilient to situations that threatened to break her. He should have found out about the intricate relations between the desert vixen and her brothers. Kabuto was right when he informed him that in the Sand, Gaara was not the one to be feared. Temari played on Sasuke's ego and when he realized himself in the Sunagakure's jail, his hands and feet bound – he remembered those words and an angry scowl crossed his features. That bitch.

It no longer mattered though. Kabuto's corpse decorated one of the morgues in Konoha, while his brother's was swallowed by the sand. In the end, both of them got what they wanted. He didn't have an illusion of what was going to happen to him, but death didn't frighten him. However, even in that Sasuke proved himself to be too naïve, for his capture wasn't the end, but only the beginning. He figured she'd die from her injuries anyway.

He was surprised the first time when she entered his cell. He didn't expect her to be alive, well and even allowed to go back to her ninja duties. Temari informed him of his trial only to receive a sarcastic laughter as an answer. He planned to inform the trial that death would be the best choice for him – Kabuto was dead, but Orochimaru was still alive – who knew what the old senile Sannin would do to get his hands on the Sharingan genes. Sasuke believed that the Sand would be smart enough to relieve him of life.

Temari, however, had other plans. It all happened so fast and he couldn't even protest before he realized himself married, married to her no less by the order of the Kazekage and even the Hokage. Sasuke belonged to Sunagakure now, and the proposition Temari turned to the Council was taken with a high level of excitement. What they saw was the sacrifice, the highest sacrifice worthy of the Kazekage's sister. What Sasuke saw, however, was the final piece of the puzzle and suddenly it seemed like someone took a veil off his eyes. He glanced at her, in awe. Kabuto was right – Temari was so much more dangerous than her deadly brothers. She offered the Council, in exchange for Sasuke's life, his genes. She offered to birth his children – and given her family history – the Council was only too pleased to accept that.

Thus, on their wedding night, when he took her once again and they played their game until they were too exhausted to move, he told her that she's in over her head. It was Temari's turn to laugh at him. He stared at the ceiling for the longest time, even after she fell asleep, contemplating on what happened. True, perhaps she did outsmart him – but he didn't lose either.

Pulling her across her waist, towards him, he buried his face in the nook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her skin. Temari's heart beat was steady, as was her breathing. She threw her arm over his shoulder and sighed in her sleep. Sasuke leaned up and kissed her forehead.

When her heartbeat finally lulled him to sleep, he thought that she was right.

This was the closest he ever got to loving someone besides himself.

9/28/2006

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